%0 Journal Article %A Batunacun %A HU Yun-feng %A Biligejifu %A LIU Ji-yuan %A ZHEN Lin %T Spatial Distribution and Variety of Grass Species on the Ulan Bator - Xilinhot Transect of Mongolian Plateau %D %R 10.11849/zrzyxb.2015.01.003 %J JOURNAL OF NATURAL RESOURCES %P 24-36 %V 30 %N 1 %X Understanding the spatial distribution and variety of grass species in the Mongolian Plateau is very important for both the general biodiversity research and the region's sustainable development. However, due to many parctical difficulites, such as the vast territory, national border division, language barrier and hard field conditions, little studies have been done on the grass specie diversity in an expansive area in this plateau. In the summer of 2012, an ecological transect from Ulan Bator of Mongolia to Xilinhot of China was selected, and a series of grass sampling sites and sampling quadrats along this transect were investigated in detail. Based on the field survey, the spatial distributions and varieties of grass species along the transect were analyzed. The result turns out: 1) 103 grass species belonging to 33 families were identified. Specifically, 87 species belonging to 29 families are in Mongolia territory and 62 species belonging to 22 families are in Inner Mongolia territory of China. Although the absolute number of grass species, edible grass and perennial grass in Inner Mongolia are less than those in Mongolia, the relative indices, including the specie numbers per vertical hundred meters, specie numbers per horizontal hundred kilometers, the ratio of the edible grass specie in total species, and the ratio of the perennial grass specie in total species, are higher in Inner Mongolia than those in Mongolia. 2) The numbers of grass species along the transect present the "U" shape, i. e. number of species is higher in the northern and the southern parts, and lower in the middle part of the transect. 3) From the north to the south, the number of gramineal grass ascends, and the number of grass in composite family descends. The numbers of grass in leguminosae family and other forbs present the"U"shape. The numbers of perennial plants and edible grass also show as the "U" shape, while the number of therophtye grass appears the inverted "U" shape, and the number of non-edible grass changes smoothly along the transect. %U https://www.jnr.ac.cn/EN/10.11849/zrzyxb.2015.01.003